Are we ready?
by attonranden
Summary: A more realistic world of Pokemon and more emotional as Two friends depart Twinleaf together and set off on their Pokemon journey. Follow them on their path to the Sinnoh league and further as they aim to become the worlds greatest Pokemon masters but they soon discover that its not as easy as they thought and have to dig deep to prove to themselves that they're ready. Rated M
1. Prologue

**First things first the legendary Authors note, if you don't read this then you may be confused later on. Okay so some small changes to make this whole Pokémon thing more realistic. **

**1: Parents do not let their 10 year olds travel the world with kick ass pets that have special powers hell my mother never let me have a pet and I'm 18 for crying out loud! So first change all trainers legally have to be 16 before they can become trainers. Hell you have to be 16 before you can live alone I think so it makes sense. If not well…meh I don't care that's the new rule.**

**2: When two trainers have a battle the winner gets a small cash reward like in the games except not a few hundred poke dollars or whatever it is, this helps to make the lifestyle liveable and makes sure that successful trainers can carry on while trainers that suck should take the hint and quit. **

**3: Along the same lines as the money one above, poke mart wares are relatively cheap to accommodate trainers although the better quality items cost more obviously but buying a handful of potions isn't going to leave you broke either there's a balance. Also Pokémon centres are free bed and board. All regular cafés and hotels and other places all cost the same as you would expect though. **

**4: Hmmm don't think there is a four yet…. Oh yeah in this fic Pokémon and people can actually get hurt no flamethrowers to the face and just shaking it off kind of thing, funny as it is that's always bugged me slightly. **

**5: Pokémon no longer forget moves I mean come on it made sense on the games but in the anime and manga(I think) it was just retarded**

**Okay don't think there's anymore, in either case enjoy people and please leave a review.**

**Prologue: The Move**

Jak didn't know if he was excited or disappointed when he finally saw Twinleaf town come into view. On the one hand now that he and his mom were here he could finally start his Pokémon journey and become an actual trainer, but on the other he wouldn't be able to travel with, or challenge, any of his friends for months, maybe even years or possibly never. He had waited for months to begin his journey, eager didn't even come close to describing how he had felt back in Pallet town, he could barely contain himself as he counted down the days.

That was until his mother came to find him one day only to tell him that they were moving to the Sinnoh region back to where his mother was born and raised. Normally he would have taken the news alright, obviously a little upset about leaving the only home he had ever known and saying goodbye to all his friends but he wouldn't have taken it too badly all things considered. That was he wouldn't have taken it too badly if it hadn't come hand in hand with the fact that she didn't want him to leave to become a trainer until after they had moved which so happened to be two months after the point when all of his friends were leaving.

Naturally the news came as a heavy blow to the trainer in waiting one that his best friend found equally as difficult to stomach when he found out. The two of them had been planning their journey for years discussing what type of Pokémon they would capture which gym they would challenge first, where they would visit in their free time what training methods they would use but just like that their dreams were undone. One good thing did come from it though, a promise, a promise that they would meet up again whether it be in a few months or a few years and when they did they would battle each other to see who was better once and for all. In the space of a day his best friend had become his rival and Jak not only intended to keep that promise but win every battle up to and including that one he was going to become a Pokémon master.

Despite the emptiness that he knew he would feel from traveling alone without his best friend alongside him Jak couldn't help but smile at that promise, he and Scott had dreamed of becoming Pokémon masters since before they could remember. They were practically brothers, and now rivals and he knew that their promise would drive them both to become the very best trainers that they could be.

"Char!" Glancing to the seat next to him Jak laughed as his charmander looked over the back seats of the van to get a good look at Twinleaf. He may not have been starting from Pallet town or even the Kanto region but he would be damned if anyone was going to stop him from starting with the little fire breathing reptile that he had been playing and not so secretly training with for close to a year now. When Jak first found charmander outside professor Oak's lab the two instantly connected and over the year forged a bond that could have even rivalled that of the one between him and Scott in their short time together and he wasn't going to leave another friend behind if he didn't have to. That said he could have cried with joy when he almost hugged professor Oak to death as the old man barely even stopped to consider saying yes to his plea to take charmander with him even though he was going to another region, apparently it was quite common.

"That's our new home buddy, but only for a little while." Jak actually felt sorrier for charmander than he did for himself, the little guy had lived in professor Oaks laboratory since he was born, or hatched, a few years ago and Jak felt like he was tearing the little guy away from his home, not like he wasn't being torn away from his but charmander was obviously the younger of the two. That was until professor Oak reassured him that charmander would be fine as long as he was treated right saying that if they were going to be on the road as trainers then they would have left eventually. "You as excited as I am about starting our journey?"

"Char char!"

"There won't be any talk of journeys to anywhere until the house is unpacked." Jak's mother spoke up from the front of the van as if sensing the building excitement between trainer and Pokémon and instantly deflating the mood. The machoke in the front seat grinned back at the pair as they sighed, sliding back in their seats at the mention of unpacking, Jak hated it and charmander was constantly yelled at to keep his tail flame away from anything that could be set on fire, which was surprisingly little.

"Thought that's what you were for." Jak mock glared at his mother's Pokémon who just stuck his tongue out and laughed with his trainer. "Guess the journey will have to wait then right bud?" He grumbled wondering if it was worth unpacking all of his stuff as he would hopefully be gone within the space of a few days.

Nekrews was bored, really bored, he was so bored that he was actually considering joining his mom outside and helping with the garden, his spheal was snoozing happily on his chest snoring quietly. 'Please Areceus make something happen.' The sixteen year old thought scratching behind one of spheal's ears and smiling at the way the little ball of fur almost purred.

Immersed in the cuteness that was his Pokémon Nekrews almost missed the sound of a vehicle coming into the small quiet town, the noise instantly had his attention as it was much louder and heavier sounding than any of the smaller cars that the residents of Twinleaf owned. Careful not to wake spheal Nekrews slid the Pokémon off of his chest and moved over to the window to see what was making all the noise. True to what he thought a big moving van was slowly making its way into town.

"Huh mom mentioned something about someone moving." Nekrews mumbled to himself watching closely as said mother rushed out to from the garden to get a look at the van herself. It was impossible to miss the excitement on her face as she was almost bouncing in place waiting for the van to stop in front of the house opposite them, the one that had been empty for a year or so now. Truth be told Nekrews had snuck into that house a few times just to see if anything happened as it turns out ghost Pokémon are not drawn to every empty house in the world, just the really creepy ones.

The first one out of the van was another woman about his mother's age who looked just as excited. They quickly enveloped each other in a hug before chatting excitedly, Nekrews couldn't hear them from where he was but from the speed they were talking it seemed like they were trying to catch up a years' worth of events in just a few seconds. The next one out of the van was a large machoke that also received a hug from his mother and looked decidingly embarrassed when she started talking to him and looked him over. Next and last out of the van was a guy that looked to be his age with a young charmander on his shoulders who, like the machoke, was given a quick hug and looked over by his mother.

"Wonder who they are." Nekrews said out loud giving an embarrassing little wave when they all suddenly turned to look up at him, his mom waved for him to come down before hurrying inside. Glancing over to spheal who was still fast asleep Nekrews left his Pokémon and walked downstairs to his living room where his mother had lead their new neighbours.

"Honey I want you to meet an old friend of mine." She smiled pointing to each in turn. "This is Ann she and I used to travel together when we were younger, this is her partner machoke and this is her son." Glancing at each other Jak lifted a hand to point at himself.

"Hey I'm Jak and this little guy is charmander." He said pointing up to the orange dragon on his shoulders.

"Nekrews and I would introduce you to spheal but he's sleeping at the minute." Nekrews said smiling at the black haired trainer opposite him.

"Tom why don't you show Jak your room while Ann and I catch up." Nodding Nekrews ran back up the stairs to show Jak his room making sure he got away before his mom got chatting.

"So much for unpacking." Jak sighed following Tom to his room and raising an eyebrow at the little ball of fur sat snoring on his bed. "Thought you said your name was Nekrews?" He asked setting charmander down so he didn't hit his head.

"My names Tom but everyone calls me Nekrews, guess the name just stuck." Nekrews said shrugging as he sat in a bean bag looking at Jak's charmander pad over to spheal and watch the little guy sleep until Jak spoke up.

"Watch your tail bud, I'm fire proof but everything else isn't." Glancing back at his tail the little charmander made a point of keeping his tail flame away from everything as he sniffed the Pokémon on the bed. "So are you a trainer?" Jak asked looking over at Nekrews who was watching the two Pokémon.

"No, my mom's been trying to encourage me to become one but… I don't know I'm happy here and spheal is awesome I'm not sure if I want a whole house full of Pokémon." Tom admitted smiling when the little seal Pokémon opened his eyes sleepily and yawned blinking slowly when he saw the charmander a few inches away from him. "What about you, you a trainer?"

"Soon to be, once we get unpacked and settled, I am out of here." Jak said chuckling when spheal rolled into charmander's nose and squealed happily getting a friendly char back from the fire type.

"You sound a little desperate." Nekrews commented laughing when it looked like spheal and charmander were trying to shake hands.

"Oh you have no idea." Jak says sitting against a wall feeling a little agitated he didn't want to be rude but he really wanted to just hurry up and get what needed to be done so that he could leave already. He'd been waiting for this moment for years and it was so close that he could almost taste it. Looking back over to the Pokémon Jak smiled though. "Guess they like each other."

"Not many tame Pokémon around here, plenty of wild ones and while most of them are friendly." Nekrews left off remembering the time a small and very angry group of shinxs attacked spheal.

"Some are not; yeah I know what that's like." Jak mumbled remembering the time an angry flock of spearow passed through a section of forest that he and his friends were in, that was not one of his best memories. "So what do you do to starve off the boredom around here?" Instead of answering Nekrews merely smiled and lobbed a controller from off the floor and pointed to a game console next to the plasma TV.

"Got the new Black Ops?" Tom asked quickly setting up the game as Jak twisted the controller around in his hands a little blindly. "You do know how to play right?" Jak rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, he honestly loved games he just didn't have the latest version of the console so he had no idea how to play, when he said as much Nekrews sighed and went through the basics, once that was done they started playing. At some point both Pokémon had made their way over watching the violent game, spheal seemed used to it and just rolled around Nekrews's feet and yelped encouragement whenever his trainer groaned. Charmander on the other hand kept glancing at Jak every time he frowned or groaned clearly not understanding what was going on and it wasn't until the little reptile gently took the controller from his hands that he realised that he was actually quite distressed.

"Whoa there sorry little guy." Jak instantly picked his Pokémon up and sat him on his knee making sure that charmander saw he was okay. "Just a game little guy I'm not actually getting hurt." The little reptile actually completed a very thorough examination with his little hands before he was satisfied that Jak was indeed alright. Only then did he let Jak pick the controller back up keeping charmander close as he played.

About an hour later and after many games, charmander even had a go trying to grip the controller with his little hands for a little while, Jak's mom called up the stairs.

"Jak come on we shouldn't delay this any longer." Groaning loud enough for his mother to hear Jak picked himself up and pouted in a defeated manner at Nekrews.

"I swear if this takes longer than a few hours I'm going to kill something." Jak practically growled on his way out giving Tom's mom a hug and Nekrews a wave on his way out, they both offered to help but Ann graciously declined saying that they would be fine on their own, blatantly ignoring her son shaking his head.


	2. Chapter 1: Beginnings

**Chapter 1: Beginnings**

It was almost a week after Jak and his mother had moved in that Nekrews found himself sat at his kitchen table absently playing with spheal while he watched his mom happily washing the dishes, the little round ball of fur was rolling around happily giggling as he went.

"Mom… Why did you become a trainer?" Unbeknownst to him Tom's mother smiled to herself she had honestly been expecting that question all week since Ann had returned from Kanto and with Jak planning to leave some time in the next few days she knew that her son was questioning the decision he made about becoming a trainer.

"I became a trainer because I loved Pokémon." The woman eventually answered keeping her gaze fixed on the dishes as she thought back to her first days as a trainer she could remember it like it was only yesterday.

"Loved?" Glancing back to her son Karen dried her hands off and walked over to the table sitting opposite Tom to look him in the eyes.

"Loved?...Still do if I think about it." She admitted being honest with herself she lost her drive for being a trainer years ago. "Ann used to live here back when I was your age, that house she just moved into is the same one she lived in as a child." Leaning back in her chair the woman stared over at a photo taken by her parents the very day she started her journey. She was in the centre with Ann stood on her right and a tall strong looking boy on her left.

"When Rick, Ann and I left we were all just caught up in the moment, Pokémon trainers as a whole was still fairly new back then but we all loved it." Karen smiled as she remembered the first time they all caught their first Pokémon and how excited they were when they battled against each other. Their Pokémon soon became very good friends as they were around each other almost 24\7. "We figured out that I was a very average battler." Karen admitted laughing at how stubborn she was back then and how she had demanded that Ann and Steve battle her at every opportunity.

"You weren't a good trainer?" Tom asked somewhat surprised given the amount of badges ribbons and trophies that he had seen hidden away in a small box in his mother's closest he had honestly been expecting her to brag about how good she was.

"Not a good battler there's a difference." She quickly pointed out she'd be damned if she was going to let her own son not think that she was a good trainer. "After I finally admitted that fact I took up contests and that's where my talent began to shine through, roselia and I were made for competitions." Looking back to the photos she frowned when she realised how few there were of her and her Pokémon she knew that she had more but some of the memories were just too painful to bring back to the surface.

"What happened I mean you've never had a Pokémon?" Nekrews asked setting spheal down on the floor as he listened to his mom talk she had been very reluctant to talk about her training past whenever he asked and his sister was even more tightly lipped despite the fact that Tom knew that she knew everything. "What happened to them?"

"One died." She whispered playing with the feather necklace that her son had never seen here take off, pulling it out so that he could see it better there were the beginnings of tears in the corner of her eyes. "I captured a noctowl not long after I started traveling with Ann and Rick, he was old, so… very old. I found out the first time I took him to a Pokémon centre, and he knew it as well but I don't think I ever cared." Smiling to herself she laughed at some of the funnier things about having an old Pokémon along with such a rowdy bunch of younger ones.

"He was very good though and had enough experience to make up for his age and… I wish you could have seen him he was amazing." Now Karen was crying as she looked up at the ceiling remembering how he was in every competition that they had ever entered. "He was so happy the first time that we won a contest and I think it was the happiest that he had ever been."

"Mom." Tom whispered not sure what to do now that his mother was crying but to her credit Karen pulled herself together very quickly and wiped her eyes.

"After that I seriously lost my drive for being a trainer and I think we all did but we all dealt with it in different ways. Rick threw himself at his training determined to create the strongest team and challenge the champion, Ann decided to become a researcher and left to travel the world with her team and I…I settled down." Brushing the feather one last time she pulled it back into her shirt and smiled sadly. "I brought my team with me and told them that I was done and that I didn't know what to do with them… I think that they understood at least and they all stayed around for a little while. I think staraptor was the first to leave but that wasn't until your big sister was born it was funny how they reacted to her. After that though…"

"They all left?" Tom asked looking down to spheal who was paying as much attention to his mother as he was, how much the little seal was taking in was a matter for debate but he could obviously tell that Karen was upset for some reason and was nuzzling up against her foot.

"They all let me know when they were leaving and I got to say goodbye… but yes." Sighing Tom's mom picked the small bundle of fur up and hugged him gently. "Torterra actually managed to ask to be sent to the Eterna city that was a heavy blow I thought that he might stay but I couldn't say no."

"He was your starter wasn't he?" Nodding Karen actually stood up taking spheal with her as she fished out a letter and handed it to her son. "What's this?"

"We became good friends with Eterna cities current gym leader Gardenia she was the one that I sent Torterra to and she still sends letters every month telling me about the gym and how he is, roselia finally ended up there as well they even came down to visit years ago when you were still little do you remember?" Shrugging Nekrews had a very vague memory of a hyperactive woman with a big Pokémon who randomly appeared one day but not much more than that. "Anyway my team dispersed, staraptor actually made a nest in the forests around here so I see him quite regularly he even comes to watch me work in the garden and keep me company sometimes." She admitted thinking about the last time that he turned up with another staraptor and a few young starlys she had been so happy for him that she was sure the big tough bird was blushing when she congratulated him.

"Do you regret doing it?"

"No." The suddenness of her reply surprised Nekrews as he thought that she would have after losing such a close friend and her friends and team. "I may have one almost unbearably painful memory but I also have so many happy ones that it almost doesn't matter. I will never regret taking that first step." It was a long awkward moment before her son spoke up again.

"Jak's leaving tomorrow…Do you think I should go?" Karen smiled at her son and simply handed spheal back over to him, the little Pokémon looked up at him with those big eyes that made Tom smile.

"What does your heart tell you?"

"Now are you sure that you have everything, I don't-"

"MOM!" Jak yelled startling the poor charmander shifting about uneasily in his chair at the table, they had finally been getting ready to start their journey all week but his mom had been finding some truly inspired excuses for why he couldn't go that day but Jak had had enough, he was ready and charmander was ready. "We will be fine okay, you can stop worrying."

"Trying to tell a mother not to worry about her only son going off to travel the region while gathering pets and getting into dangerous battles with wild animals is like telling fire not to be hot. Just won't work." Jak groaned as she stood there staring at him. "I'm not letting you leave until I'm convinced that you have everything you need to be ready." She said marching over to him and taking the backpack that he had set against the table.

"Mom give me a break we packed last night nothing's changed between then and now." This was getting absurd in the time it had taken him to make his breakfast and make sure that he was ready his mother had thrown several tantrums and tried her very best to not let him go. "Me and charmander can handle ourselves right boy?" The clearly nervous charmander just nodded his affirmation keeping his eyes fixed on the unhappy female in the room. Ann calmed down somewhat when she saw how nervous the little reptile looked as he ate his food but still unpacked everything from the backpack and repacked it with a fury only to frown at her results.

"You don't really have enough Pokémon food or any food really so you'll."

"Need to go to a poke mart when I get to Sandgem I know we've been over this like a dozen times already I'm ready." The woman looked at her son before fiddling with the bag and even looking to machoke who had been silent throughout the whole exchange.

"I'm just not ready to let my little boy go." She mumbled setting the bag back down and wandering over to one of the kitchen draws inside was an envelope full of money that he knew she had been saving just for this day handing it to him she sat down and went into business mode. "Aside from the food what else do you need to buy?"

"Potions, a couple of status effect heals, balls and a poke gear." Jak listed off starting in Twinleaf had more than a few disadvantages at least in Pallet town professor Oak could get some of this stuff delivered to them. "I know what I'm doing mom, you have to accept that." Nodding to herself Ann didn't answer until machoke came over and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I know it's just… I've gotten so used to having one of my children around the house that…Well it won't be the same." She sobbed looking close to full on tears as she looked between Jak and charmander. "And seeing you all grown up with your very own Pokémon, I'm so proud of you." Giving his mother a big hug Jak chuckled he would have thought that she would have been used to this, his sister did leave seven years ago though so maybe it was a big deal.

"Thanks mom, that means a lot to me." Pretty soon charmander had hopped over and was hugging both their legs 'char'ing happily at the both of them now that Ann wasn't flapping around like a magicarp out of water. "And I think charmander agrees with me right boy?"

"Char!" With that the household went back into its normal routine as they cleared away the dishes and went through Jak's pack once more at his mother's insistence although thankfully it was much more calm process than before. Almost an hour later the two heard a knock at their front door shortly before machoke brought a beaming Karen in who quickly laughed at how Jak's pack was laid out all over the floor.

"I can't believe after all these years that you haven't improved at all." The woman smirked sitting down to stare at the two as Nekrews came into the living room holding spheal in his arms, the seal Pokémon quickly jumped out of his arms and towards charmander however and the two started playing under machoke's supervision as the humans talked. "She obsessed over her pack for weeks before we finally left even though she planned it all out a month before hand." Glaring at her best 'friend' Ann huffed.

"And who was it that forgot her food on their first day. Not me." Ann said blatantly ignoring Karen as she helped Jak repack his bag finally satisfied that they had done all that they could do with what they had. "Anyway what are you doing here I thought you were going to meet us outside?"

"Thought he needed emotional support from your break down but it looks like I missed it." Ann responded by throwing a pair of socks at her friends face but did look at her son with a light shine in her eyes. "Oh and to tell you that Tom decide to go as well." That made the pair snap their heads around at the second sixteen year old who true enough was dressed like he was planning on going somewhere.

Looking down at himself Jak found himself comparing his Navy jeans, thick black t-shirt and black jacket with dark red flames lining the bottom to Tom's jeans, white t shirt and dark blue jacket they both had a pair of heavy fingerless gloves on, though Jak's were again a dark red while Tom's were pure black. Smiling at his friend Nekrews pulled the bag from around the corner so that Jak could see it.

"You ready to start?" Blinking a few times Jak grinned back at his friend and pulled his own pack up, both boys looked to their parents who were both a little teary eyed by the scene but they all began to head out of the house when they collected their respective Pokémon. Even Jak had to admit that he was slightly emotional to finally be leaving but he didn't let it stop him as they gave their mothers a big hug. Sandgem was only about a day's walk from twinleaf but it was already close to midday when they got away from their mothers goodbyes and started on the path to the small town where they could both be registered as trainers.

The thought that they were actually leaving their home hadn't really sunk in for either of them as neither said a word for hours as they walked down the path to Sandgem when Nekrews looked back the way they'd come and smiled looking down at spheal who he had in his arms as they walked.

"Well we didn't exactly plan this but we're really doing it." He laughed getting a cute giggle from his unorthodox starter Pokémon.

"You didn't really tell me why you changed your mind." Jak said taking that as his queue to strike up a conversation, he had decided to carry charmander on his shoulders like he usually did as they walked along the quiet path seeing as he didn't have a pokeball for the little fire type. "Thought you didn't like the idea of having an entire house full of Pokémon?" Nekrews smiled at him when he asked that and just shrugged.

"I still don't but my mom started talking about her time as a trainer and I just thought to myself, 'If I miss this chance I might never have another.'" Popping spheal on his head the little ball of fur clung to his hair as he walked along letting him put his hands in his jacket as they walked along. "I can always decide that I don't like it and go home but this was a unique chance to go and actually try it."

"Your mom must have told you one hell of a story." Jak said he was happy that Nekrews was coming with him even with charmander to keep him company having an actual human along made things less lonely in his mind. "Mine tried to do everything in her power to make me stay." They both laughed at that and even charmander chuckled lightly at the thought of Jak's mother.

"She was just worried about you." Nekrews laughed shifting the bag around on his shoulders he wasn't used to wearing the heavy pack yet.

"Straps digging into your shoulders?" Jak asked watching Nekrews fiddle with the length on said straps. "You'll get used to it but we can take a break if you like we have been walking for a little while now." Checking his watch Jak almost groaned they still had hours of walking to do before they got to Sandgem. Nodding his agreement Nekrews moved over and sat down on the grass that lined the side of the road, he was glad that the weather was good, he wasn't used to being outdoors much and he couldn't really imagine walking through the rain.

"Well at least this adventure is going to get me fit." Tom laughed sliding his pack off to look at his shoulders, he almost sighed when he saw they were fine just a little red from the pressure no sores or blisters. "You don't seem to have much of a problem." Nekrews pointed out almost jealous that Jak was just sat calmly next to him.

"I've wanted to be a trainer for years remember." Jak grinned pulling a canteen from his pack and taking a swig before offering it to Tom. "Me and my best friend back home used to do a lot of camping and walking with his big brother whenever we had the chance, you get used to it after a while." Jak admitted lightly tapping Tom in the shoulder as he laid back.

"Okay I'll take your word for it." Tom sighed looking up at the sky while spheal rolled around after a while he noticed Jak frowning at his Pokémon sitting up Nekrews couldn't spot anything wrong. "Why you looking at spheal like that?"

"You going to battle someone with him?" Jak asked surprisingly blunt. "I mean the guys adorable but he'll probably be flattened by a real attack." Glaring at his companion Tom had too much pride to even consider what he was saying before he said it.

"No he won't he could take your charmander easily." They both looked up at the charmander that was still firmly set on Jak's shoulders, the little reptile let out a confused char as to why they were both looking at him before Jak smirked and stood back up. "Where you going?"

"There isn't a Pokémon centre for another few miles and we don't have any potions, doesn't matter who's right I'm not having a battle before I'm have one on hand." Jak smiled turning to start walking back down the road. "But that's a nice spirit you got there, spheal's still going to get owned though." Jak laughed smirking when the little ball of fat and fur rolled past him and squealed happily.

"I'll show you want he can do." Tom growled jogging to catch up to his friend and Pokémon before he got left behind. "Besides does it really matter if he can't battle does it, I mean that's not all a Pokémon's good for."

"Oh yeah don't get me wrong it doesn't matter at all, hell I'd be happy if he stayed that way the entire time we're together. Like I said he's adorable but if you use him as your starter, you'll be at a slight disadvantage." Jak really didn't have a problem with spheal at all it was just a person's starter was generally considered to be their strongest and he learned from Scott's brother that if your starter was weak people would consider you to be a bad trainer. "Could always ask professor Rowan for a starter I guess." Jak admitted even if they had a Pokémon with them all registering trainers were entitled to a starter from their local point of registration Jak already had charmander from professor Oak but Nekrews had found spheal naturally or so he assumed, he doubted it was an official starter in either case.

"I could I guess." Nekrews mumbled watching spheal roll ahead of them and wait with a big smile before rolling ahead again. He always wondered how the ice type copped with the sun always being out but he never seemed uncomfortable with the heat or anything. "But I could train him right?"

"Sure I guess the question is do you want to?" Jak said shrugging when Tom looked at him. "He's sweet cute and innocent right now, if you train him up to battle he might lose some of that maybe all of it, do you want that."

"No!" Tom's sudden exclamation made charmander jolt on Jak's shoulders and spheal come rolling back to his trainer's feet cooing in concern only to be quickly picked up and hugged.

"He's a child; you have to choose what path you want to take him down that's all I'm saying." Jak said feeling a little guilty at scaring Nekrews like that but at the same time he was right Pokémon trained for battles were a lot less carefree and playful than spheal or at least the ones that he had seen were. "You don't have to decide now we won't make it to Sandgem before night anyway you can think it over." They walked again in silence for a while before the sky started to get dark and they decided that it would probably be a good idea to set up for the night.

Noticing the dark mood that he had put his friend into Jak sighed he hadn't meant to depress him he just didn't want to see spheal get hurt and he _knew_ that Nekrews didn't want to see that either so he was honest. '_Whoever the hell came up with honesty is the best policy was an absolute moron.'_

"Hey sorry about earlier." Jak finally said scratching at his black hair as he looked anywhere but at Nekrews or spheal. "I just didn't want… well you know." Feeling very awkward with his apology Jak set both charmander and his bag down to collect some fire wood. Left to his own thoughts Nekrews immediately began to think about what Jak said, surely spheal wouldn't change that much even if he did learn to battle, he wouldn't be battling every day and he would always be there so he wouldn't be mistreated or anything. Sighing Nekrews pulled out his sleeping bag and set it up so he was looking up at the stars before lying down, there wasn't much he could do until Jak brought the fire wood back anyway.

As if the thought summoned him Jak popped back into view with an armful of dry branches his dark clothes almost blending in with the dark forest. In no time at all and thanks to charmander they had a strong campfire burning in a matter of seconds lighting up the little clearing in the forest and staving off the slight night chills. Even with it being dark though the night air was surprisingly warm. Setting down his own sleeping bag Jak laid down and pulled a book out of his pack.

"What's that?"

"A rookie trainer's guide to Pokémon, whoever wrote it is an idiot." Jak said there was still enough light that he didn't have to rely on the fire to read and he almost laughed while flipping through the pages he had read most of it already he just wanted something to do until he felt like something to eat. Clearing his throat he read out loud. "Here listen to this. 'A trainer must never ask his or her Pokémon to do something that they would not do themselves.'" Looking to his friend Jak put on his best confused face. "Nekrews how do I learn to breathe fire?" Chuckling at the bad joke Jak kept reading picking out random bits and piece that he thought were funny.

"Here this one's not so stupid. 'A Pokémon is as sentient as any human being treat them as you would others and you will form a lasting respect and friendship as easily with them as any man or woman.'" Jak smiled as he looked to charmander who was mostly curled up in the fire and appeared to be snoozing happily. "We already knew that didn't we bud?" Charmander smiled and blew out a little stream of fire to show he had heard before going back to sleeping, spheal was sat over to one side watching the small retile, clearly curious as to why he could lie in the fire and not be hurt but he couldn't.

"I know he's a fire type but is that really okay?" Nekrews said gesturing to the fire, it didn't seem to be hurting the little charmander but again he was a fire type.

"As long as he keeps his eyes and mouth closed then yeah he's fine, his scales are fire resistant, I think it might even be good for him as strange as that sounds." Jak admitted looking over to his Pokémon. "In either case he's happy lazing there so I'm not going to tell him to stop." Rolling over to his pack Jak pulled out a small box full of Pokémon food and popped open the lid, the smell of food instantly got both Pokémon's attention and they both came over. "Here you go guys."

"You know I have some food for spheal if you want me to."

"Nah you can feed them for breakfast tomorrow its fine." Jak said waving off his concern and he pulled out a small camping stove and pan along with a few other ingredients.

"You cook?" Tom asked moving over to watch what Jak was doing.

"I wouldn't exactly call it cooking." Jak admitted filling the pan with water and ripping open a few small sachets of powder to pour in. "More like making camping supplies taste slightly better than feet." He laughed dropping a condensed pack of noodles into the broth with a cube of salt. "When we get to Sandgem I can pick up a couple of things to make our meals seem slightly less repetitive then they actually are." After a few minutes Jak called charmander over and had the little reptile taste test the broth and was slightly dejected when the small dragon showed almost no reaction.

"You expecting him to talk?" Nekrews laughed accepting a steaming bowl of noodles from the pan.

"Yes in a way. He loves my home cooking he gets all excited when I give him a spoon of something I've actually made well." Jak sighed poking at his noodles waiting for Nekrews to take the first bite before he touched them, charmander didn't spit them out which gave him hope but not much. "Guess I need to get better at camp cooking."

"So you do cook?" Tom asked putting some cooler noodles into his mouth and stopping there to 'savour' the taste.

"That bad huh?" Without so much as a word Jak threw the noodles into the fire and pulled out a bar of chocolate and throwing another to Tom. "And yeah I cook I guess, it's a good way to pass the time and useful." Disposing of his own noodles Tom caught the candy and leaned back.

"Too much salt." He said taking a chunk out of the bar to get the taste out of his mouth and watched as Jak cleaned the pot up. "Never really thought about cooking, my mom is great at it so never seemed like something I should consider." Nekrews admitted stroking spheal when the seal came rolling back over after his fill of food.

"Need some meat or something." Jak moaned putting the lid back on the half empty box of Pokémon food and snapping his bar in half so that charmander could have some, he had learned a long time ago that the little reptile had an unusual addiction to chocolate. As a general rule people food was usual not a Pokémon's favourite unless prepared in a special way and vies versa Pokémon food generally didn't agree with people usually it was just the taste however so it could be fine but Jak didn't want to find out. In either case charmander loved chocolate and Jak didn't mind sharing with him, by the end of it however charmander had almost as much melted chocolate all over his claws as he did in his mouth, irony of being a fire type. "If you tried my mother's food you would understand my need to cook." Jak laughed cleaning up charmander's hands and laying back down his feet were mildly sore from the day of walking but he wasn't going to complain both because of his pride and because he was finally starting his journey.

"Your mum that bad?" Nekrews asked only getting a creepy laugh in response. "I'll take that as a yes." With that a pleasant silence came over the two trainers and their pokemon as they just laid there looking up at the stars.

"You know if nothing else I could get used to this."

"Agreed."


	3. Chapter 2: Enemies

**Chapter 2: Enemies**

When morning came around both trainers wasted little time lying around their small camp, quickly going about feeding themselves and their two Pokémon. It was while Jak was eating his breakfast that he looked over at Nekrews and had a sudden thought.

"Hey dude." He said getting his friends attention. "What kind of trainer do you want to be?" The question obviously caught Tom by surprise as he stopped eating to look at Jak and shrug.

"What you mean?"

"Well there are like a dozen different kinds of trainers, there are coordinators, breeders, gym leaders, masters and specialists." Jak listed off not really being able to think of any more off the top of his head but it didn't matter he got his point across. "So what kind of trainer do you want to be?" The question caught him by surprise and if Nekrews was honest with himself he really didn't know what kind of trainer he wanted to be, did he really have to decide now? No, he barely knew anything about Pokémon at the moment he didn't know what kind of trainer he wanted to be, when he said as much to Jak the teenager shrugged and asked a different question.

"Then what kind of trainer don't you want to be?" Now that was slightly easier to answer if Tom thought about it.

"I don't want to be a coordinator, as much fun as the contests are to watch I don't want to actually take part in one." Nekrews admitted thinking about all the times that he had sat down and watched the contests and grand festivals that were broadcasted on the TV with his mom. "And I guess I don't really want to be a breeder either. I guess I'll just settle for trainer at the moment."

"Okay so you're planning to come around and challenge the gym leaders with me then?" Jak asked washing out the pot that he had had his soup in. Charmander generously blasted the flame resistant pot with a quick stream of fire to dry it off before Jak put it back into his bag.

"Yeah even if I wanted to do something else I would still go around and challenge the gym leaders." Nekrews admitted and it was true he would, having all eight gym badges felt like something akin to saying that he deserved to be a trainer in his mind and he eager to prove that he could be a good trainer. "What about you, what kind of trainer do you want to be?"

"That's easy." Jak grinned jabbing a thumb at himself. "I'm going to become the greatest Pokémon master that the world has ever seen!" The over the top exclamation was topped off by charmander spewing a stream of fire into the air and left both spheal and Nekrews face palming themselves.

"And how are you going to do that?" Nekrews asked cleaning his own pots so that they could get moving again.

"Battle the eight gym leaders from each region, enter each regional league, win said league and challenge the elite four and eventually defeat each and every champion that there is." Jak said with total seriousness until he laughed and scratched at his black hair. "At least that's the plan. Need a strong team for that to happen though and the only way to do that is to train like no tomorrow and capture more Pokémon." Jak admitted rolling up his sleeping bag and slinging his pack over his shoulder. It only took Nekrews a few more minutes to finish up as well and soon they were both back on the path to Sandgem. Their early leave was rewarded though when they saw the small town only a few hours after they set off.

"So what do you know about Sandgem?" Jak asked when the town was just beginning to come into view if he was honest with himself when his mom had told him that they were moving back to Sinnoh he had spent all his time researching all the different types of Pokémon and neglected to even look at the towns and cities. A small mistake in hindsight.

"Not much really, my family used to go to the beach there quite a bit a few years ago but that's about it." Nekrews admitted shrugging to himself as he thought about the town. "Aside from professor Rowan's lab and the Pokémon centre and mart I don't think that there's anything there that we really need to worry about." Jak nodded from the little his mother had told him the place sounded more like a small tourist attraction than an actual Pokémon town so it was to be expected.

"So we get in find the lab, get signed up grab some supplies…"

"Talk to my sister."

"Talk to your sister and get out." It took Jak a few moments to register what he just said and turn to look at Nekrews with a raised eyebrow. "Sister?"

"Yeah my sister is Professor Rowan's assistant so I want to have a chat with her when we get there." Nekrews said grinning at the look on Jak's face. "She knew that I never really wanted to be a trainer and my mom hasn't rung her up to tell her yet so I want to tell her when we get there. Besides spheal and I haven't seen her in year's right boy?" When the little seal gave an energetic squeal from his place in Toms arms Jak laughed and just shrugged. He wasn't about to begrudge a little family time for his friend especially not with the way that his relationship with his older sister was.

"That's fine we could probably stick around for a couple of days and get some training in if you wanted?" Jak suggested staying around the area probably would be a good thing as it would let them capture a few Pokémon before they really got going and started challenging gym leaders. "Plus I haven't been to a beach in years." Jak mumbled thinking about sand made him cringe though, he hated sand.

"Well if you want, I'm sure she'll be driving me up the wall in a day or two though." Nekrews joked already feeling a little excited about seeing his big sister again after almost a year and a half. Michelle called quite regularly and was constantly apologising about not being able to visit often despite being so close, she said that the research that she and professor Rowan did took them all over Sinnoh so she wasn't really in the lab or Sandgem all that much. "I just hope she's in." Tom muttered even if she wasn't he could hopefully give her a video call, it wasn't the same but it would do.

It didn't take them that long to reach the town once it was in view and even if Jak had never been there before it was easy to tell which building was professor Rowans lab. The lager than average building was set a little way away from the town and up a slight hill almost like professor Oaks and like Jak thought the town itself looked more like a tourist attraction with dozens of beach side shops and stores with only a small Pokémon centre and mart set towards the tail end of the town.

"Do you want to head straight to Rowan's lab then?" Jak asked once they were actually in the small town the smell of sea salt drifting from the ocean made him cringe, on second thought there was a reason why he hadn't been to the beach in years, other than he hated sand of course. "And only a few days here would be fine with me."

"Not a fan of water?" Nekrews asked not really answering his question and just heading straight for the lab up the hill. A couple of people obviously from the town were staring at them but from the Pokémon on them they would have to be idiots to not know that they were trainers. True to what they thought a small boy came running up to them and almost yelled at them.

"You guys are trainers aren't you?" He asked a light shine in his eyes as he looked at charmander and spheal with almost adoration. A small bidoof followed behind the boy and called up to spheal and charmander as well and seemed just as excited as the boy was. Luckily both teenagers were saved from a painfully embarrassing event when the boy's mother turned up and quickly apologised before dragging him off somewhere.

"Well that was new." Nekrews said as he began walking again looking to where the kid had been dragged off to by his mother. He turned to look back at Jak when he heard him chuckling along with charmander. "What's so funny?"

"I was exactly like that whenever a trainer came thought pallet town, well we both were weren't with boy?" Charmander gave a small nod in agreement that Jak may not have been able to see but he could feel. "Trainers very rarely even came through pallet but when they did they were swabbed by me and my friends. We always used to beg them to show use their Pokémon." Jak admitted thinking back to a few years ago when an older trainer came into Pallet to speak with professor Oak.

"Sounds interesting, we never get anyone in Twinleaf." Nekrews said a little darkly, the lack of fresh people meant that you had to make do with the ones in Twinleaf or do without, the latter was Nekrews's case as he thought about the only other people in Twinleaf that were his age. Taking note of his tone of voice Jak raised an eyebrow but didn't ask thinking that if it was important then his friend would get around to telling him himself at some point but even then he felt that he needed to lighten the mood a little bit.

"You want to hear about the first time that I was in a battle?" He asked looking over to Nekrews to see that he firmly had his friend's absolute attention which was an obvious yes. "A few years ago a trainer came to Pallet town with the intention of staying, naturally the moment me and my friends found out we went over and started bugging him in a truly kid like fashion." Jak chuckled but was cut short when Nekrews smirked.

"So what, you were fourteen?"

"Eleven smartass." Jak growled ignoring the jab about his mental age and carried on with his little story. "He put up with us surprisingly well, he let his Pokémon out and let them entertain us for a while before he suggested having like a match exhibition or something I can't really remember. He had like twenty Pokémon and offered one to each of us to have a mock battle with each other, naturally I choose the charizard." Charmander gave an approving yip when he said that and leaned down so that his chin was resting in Jak's hair so he could listen in better, he had heard the story before but always seemed to like it.

"Your parents were okay with this?" Nekrews asked he was pretty sure that he already knew the answer but just wanted to make sure, after all eleven year olds battling was a little dangerous.

"Well we all ran home and asked and most of our parents came with us, my mom even brought her old team down with her to watch and offer a little extra choice of Pokémon and most of the parents had been trainers themselves at some point and understood just how excited we were. Besides the Pokémon all understood that we were kids and wouldn't do anything to hurt us." Jak explained thinking back to that day; it turned from a simple gesture to a full blown occasion. "Anyway by the end of it there were seven of us, me and my friends, a couple of the adults my mom and that trainer think his name was James or something. Anyway we all ended up having two Pokémon because there were more than enough willing to go around and had a little tournament." The look on Nekrews face was a little disbelieving.

"You had a mini tournament filled with kids, adults, your mom and a random trainer in you town?" When Jak nodded a quick yes Nekrews frowned. "I don't believe you." Grinning to his friend Jak fished around in his pockets for his wallet and pulled out a battered photo from years ago, it had him in the centre flanked by a grinning charizard and proud looking pidgeot. "Huh I guess I do believe you." Tom muttered staring at the photo in what could have been jealousy but he wasn't quite sure.

"Anyway my first battle was against my friends and from that day I've wanted to become a trainer so much that it just took over everything." Jak admitted smiling at the photo as he remembered what it felt like that first time he stepped onto a battle field and what it felt like to be the one giving the commands and watching his, at least for that battle, Pokémon fight.

"Who won?"

"Huh?" When tom repeated his question Jak laughed suddenly as he remembered the shocking outcome of that mini tournament.

"If you say you I'm calling…" Nekrews began but was shocked silent by his friends answer.

"My mom." Jak grinned at the shocked look on his face. "Your mum may have been a coordinator but mine was a battler and she knows what she's doing." Jak laughed remembering the way that the trainer challenged his mother to a full six on six Pokémon battle if there was any hope of turning back for Jak it was lost in that battle to this day he had never seen his mother as happy as she was when she was in the middle of that Pokémon battle.

"Hey how did you know that my mum was a coordinator?" Nekrews asked before he remembered what she had said about traveling with Jak's mother when they were younger. "Never mind actually, where's your mum's team now?" Tom asked hoping that their fate was a little kinder than his own mothers.

"They are still back at pallet town but she was planning on bringing them all down after we got the house all set up, she doesn't like to keep them in their poekballs at all so she left them with professor Oak until she was ready." Jak said as he looked up at Rowans lab, as they had been talking they had been steadily making their way through Sandgem and now were walking up the hill towards the lab itself. "Which reminds me, I need to go back and challenge her when I have my own team. I can't call myself a master until I've beaten my own mother in a battle."

It only took a few minutes for them to reach the top of the hill and the lab itself and by the time they did Jak was brimming with excitement somehow making his status as a trainer official seemed so much more significant. His excitement was easily smothered however when an attractive woman exited the lab just as they were about to try and enter.

"Michelle!" Nekrews yelled frightening the poor woman so much that she dropped the small box in her hands making a bunch of pokeballs clatter all over the floor. "Err sorry" Tom chuckled nervously rushing up to help pick the balls back up dusting them off as he did.

"Well I would usually say that it's nice to see you little brother but in this case I would be lying." Michelle growled flicking her long brown hair out of her green eyes; she looked much like a professor herself with the white lab coat over a green skirt and white t-shirt. She tried to maintain her glare at her younger brother but broke out in a smile and hugged him after a few seconds. "It's good to see you and you to spheal." She smiled hugging them both when the little ball of fur jumped up as well.

"Good to see you to." Nekrews laughed holding the box of pokeballs so that his sister could hold onto spheal and tickle the little Pokémon relentlessly making him giggled and scream with laughter for a little while before Tom turned to Jak standing off the side watching the two siblings. "Hey sis I want you to meet Jak he and his mom just moved to Twinleaf… again I think."

"My first time, mom used to live there when she was my age." Jak clarified shaking Michelle's hand with a small smirk, when she turned back to look at Nekrews Jak grinning and mouthed 'She's hot' to Tom who flushed red in either embarrassment or anger. "Anyway I'm here to get signed up as a trainer." Jak said pulling out an ID for her to look at.

"Oh so you must be the one that Professor Rowan was talking about but he said that there would be two of you coming." She mumbled looking to her little brother who had a wide smile plastered on his face. It only took a second for her to connect the dots before she squealed and hugged her younger brother tightly. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist forever little bro."

"Crushing….need oxygen." Nekrews gasped out as he was slowly and lovingly chocked to death before his sister realised what she was doing and let go with a quick apology. After a moment to collect his breath Tom stood back up just as happy as before. "Yeah I want to be a trainer."

"I'm so proud." Michelle whispered still smiling like a loon before promptly marching inside the lab. "So what are we waiting for, the professor is currently speaking with two other trainers not sure who but it doesn't matter I can register you both and present you with your starters." At that she paused and looked back at Jak and Nekrews or more pointedly charmander and the spheal still in her arms. "Assuming that you want another starter."

"Nah me and charmander are alright aren't we buddy?" The small reptile gave a resounding yip from Jak's head and swung his tail around. "Charmander says yes." Chuckling at their enthusiasm Michelle turned to look at her brother.

"Tom?" Now that he was faced with the decision Tom didn't really know if he did or not, was there any real reason to say no another Pokémon was another Pokémon and for a fresh green as grass trainer like him that could only be a good thing, but would Jak think less of him if he asked for another starter when he didn't.

"I think I will." Tom said making his decision he doubted that Jak would care either way and was proven right when his friend just smiled and gave him a thumbs up in response. "What starters do you have anyway?" Nekrews asked following his sister again to a part of the lab that had a massive computer set into a wall off to the side.

"Well currently we only have a turtwig as an option, those other trainers I was talking about retrieved their starters last week and choose chimchar and piplup and the other ones that we have living in the area are either too old or too young to give to fresh trainers." Michelle explained sitting down so that she could type away at the computer. She took both of their IDs and quickly printed out new trainer ID cards before getting up and walking to the table set into the centre of the room with a pokeball sat on top of it. "Go on Tom"

While confused at first Nekrews quickly realised that the pokeball sat there was his and slowly reached out to grab it. As he picking it up he could have laughed, it was heavier than he expected and shinier to, with the biggest smile he could muster Nekrews threw the ball up into the air.

"Turtwig I choose you." A snap and flash of white later a small Pokémon no more than a foot tall was stood on the ground shaking off the effects of the pokeball and facing away from Nekrews, this soon changed as it turned around and stared up at Nekrews with big eyes and tilted its head in the cutest way. Still smiling Nekrews crouched down so he was more turtwigs level. "Hey there little fella I'm your new trainer." Obviously curious the fresh Pokémon walked closer and hoped up onto its back legs so that it could rest it's front legs on Tom's knees. While the two got used to seeing and smelling each other Jak turned to Michelle and whispered.

"Just so we're clear that's a boy or girl?"

"Boy."

"Gotcha." Jak said looking back at the Pokémon trying to find evidence of anything that would distinguish him as a boy but came up empty and turned to look back at Michelle. "How do you tell?"

"Experience." She said smirking at the deadpan look on Jak's face before shrugging and said. "Pokedex tells us."

"How does _it_ tell?" Jak was even more confused but didn't have any chance to ask more questions when an aged man walked into the room followed by two teenagers one boy one girl clearly their age. The boy was wearing a top of the line white shirt and almost dress trousers with cleanly combed hazelnut brown hair while the girl was again wearing top of the line low cut top and skirt with long equally brown hair, neither very practical in Jak's opinion. That may have been why he was getting the impression that he wasn't going to like these two…At all.

"Well, well look what the rattata dragged in." The boy almost sneered making Jak blink and glanced between Nekrews, his sister and the newcomers, they obviously all knew each other with the exception of professor Rowan who looked just as confused as he was. "Thought you didn't have the courage to become a trainer Tom?"

"Yeah if I recall you spent all your time with that useless ball of fluff." The girl laughed standing within an inch of the boy. Jak was really confused but was quickly putting together the dots; clearly they knew each other and didn't get along, big surprise there. Tom looked like he was about to defend himself if his face was any indication as he stood up but the moment that turtwig came into view the girl smiled at him. "Oh so you ditched that guy for something better, nice work we didn't think you had it in you." Trying to save his friend some face Jak choose that moment to step in.

"And you are?" It was like both of them had only just realised that he was there from the way they almost jumped when he spoke but both smiled politely and the boy even held his hand out.

"I'm ben and this is Claire." He said shaking Jak's hand and speaking with much more grace to him than how he was to Tom a moment ago. "And you are?"

"Jak, I just moved to Twinleaf a week ago." They both looked like they were going to say something when spheal jumped from Michelle's arms and rolled over to Nekrews and whatever…'pleasant' demeanour the pair had disappeared.

"Oh so you brought the useless thing with you. Such a shame." Ben sighed looking at Nekrews like he was a lost cause and with what might have been actual pity. "When will you learn?"

"Spheal is not useless!" Tom practically screamed completely losing his calm and getting up in Bens face and muttered words that Jak hopped to dear sweet arceus that he didn't hear. "And I'll prove it to you." A truly twisted smile crept up on Ben's face as he nodded.

"A battle then." Nodding in agreement Professor Rowan chose this time to helpfully intervene.

"There's a small battlefield out the back of the lab if you want to go there." Nodding agreement everyone started heading there until Jak moved up to his friend.

"Dude you just got your turtwig this is crazy." Jak hissed pulling Nekrews off to the side before he could get outside to be taunted any further by either Claire or Ben. "You haven't even really battled before you don't know…"

"Hey leave him alone he's a big boy if he wants to battle then he can battle." Ben sneered going so far as to try and push Jak off of Nekrews before the teen walked away making sure to stay far away from Claire's smug face as he could, he hadn't even known them for an hour and he already hated them. "That is if he has the guts to fight as I recall you're a wimp Tommy."

"Don't call me that!" Nekrews yelled standing opposite his opponent on the small battlefield outside the lab with both turtwig and spheal standing on either side of him. Both Pokémon looking at their trainer with concern as he grit his teeth, one worried about what kind of trainer he was partnered with and the other about how Nekrews was acting. "And I can battle if I want to." Shaking his head Jak looked at Tom and just knew that this was going to end badly for him and his new Pokémon, poor turtwig was probably so confused right now.

"Do you think it's a good idea to let them battle?" Michelle asked moving up to stand next to Jak a clearly worried look on her face as she watched her little brother and the way he had his entire attention focused on Ben, she had known that the pair didn't like each other but she didn't think that it would be this bad.

"Better to open and clean a wound then let it fester." Jak muttered absently keeping a hand firmly on charmander's head he was ready to step in the moment things got out of hand but he hoped that they wouldn't.

"One, that's kind of morbid and two, isn't this just throwing salt on the wound." Michelle argued getting a shrug from the young trainer.

"There's more than one way to heal a wound, and he needs to know where it hurts." Jak said watching as Tom called his turtwig forward first. "There is no way that thing knows more than tackle and withdraw he doesn't stand a chance." Jak whispered to himself gritting his teeth at the smug overconfident look on Claire's face, she obviously thought that her boyfriend facing off against Nekrews had this in the bag and that just pissed him off.

"Ben's only had his Pokémon for a few days there's a chance."

"It's a chimchar isn't it?" Jak asked having a fire type was the only reason that he could think of as to why both Ben and Claire were so confident in themselves he seriously doubted that either of them thought they were smart enough to simply outclass Nekrews. They believed that the type advantage was a clear win, and unfortunately in this case they were right. "There's no chance… this is going to end badly."

"Ready Tommy." Ben grinned plucking a poke ball from his belt in a way that made Jak and Michelle want to strangle him, he threw the ball high in the air smirking as it snapped open and materialised a small fire monkey. If the type disadvantage phased Nekrews or if he even noticed it was kind of hard to tell as his face didn't change at all when the Pokémon appeared.

"Turtwig use tackle."

"Ember."

"Nekrews it's a fire type you idiot don't just charge!" Jak yelled watching as the battle almost unfolded in slow motion before him and winced when the grass type ploughed straight into the super effective ember and almost collapsed right there and then. "And the little guys basically a baby." Jak sighed watching with sympathy as turtwig struggled to get back to his feet.

"See Tommy even your 'friend' thinks you're an idiot." Ben laughed making it clear what he really thought about Jak, the two trainer's glared death at each other before Ben turned his attention back towards Nekrews. If the twisted smile on his face was any indication he was taking a great amount of pleasure in this. "Chimchar use scratch." Even if Tom had been able to think of something fast enough it wouldn't have mattered as the little fire monkey was on turtwig before the fresh starter could so much as act scratching him across the face with enough force to knock him back. Judging by the look on Ben's face he would have kept chimchar going long after that point if he had been able but Michelle called the match being the unofficial referee.

"Turtwig is unable to battle do the trainers wish to continue." She may have sounded professional and slightly detached but it was obvious to anyone from the look on her face that this was hard for her to watch and who could blame her. It was always hard to watch someone that you cared about be beaten and embarrassed like that but to watch your little brother it must have been downright painful. What tom did next completely blew them away however.

"You ready spheal?" The little seal Pokémon nodded in all seriousness and rolled forward to take up his place on the battlefield his eyes showing just how serious he was. Jak couldn't believe that he was actually going to make the little fluff ball battle; did spheal even know any moves?

"HAAHAHA you're actually going to make that thing fight. Haha you want me to kill it for you?" Ben laughed smirking darkly as he looked over to Nekrews and grunted. "I can understand how a weakling like you wouldn't be able to do it." Over to one side Claire snickered loud enough for everyone to hear and Jak was beginning to get really tired of these two.

"Spheal water gun!" Almost instantly that cocky grin on Bens face vanished to a grimace and then a scowl as the attack hit head on and knocked chimchar back towards him. "How's that for weak." Tom taunted and for once in his life smacked Ben down off of his high rapidash.

"Chimchar use scratch!" Ben practically screamed obviously mad at how easily Nekrews had been able to make a comeback. As the small fire type charged forward though Nekrews just smiled and called out for another water gun which spheal was only too eager to do. This time however the attack not only hit head on but also knocked chimchar high up into the air. The Pokémon's landing was less than gentle as well as it came crashing back into the ground after a few seconds. "Return."

"Chimchar is unable to battle." Michelle called unable to keep the small smirk off of her face as she looked over to Ben; she had never liked him or the little doll that was always by his side. "Does the challenger wish to continue?"

"OF COURSE I WANT TO CONTINUE!" Ben screamed throwing his second pokeball straight into the field and summoning up a small shinx onto the field. Jak frowned at the small electric type spheal was a water/ice type which meant that he was weak to electric type attacks, on the other hand however according to Michelle Ben and Claire were both relatively new trainers so shinx probably didn't have any powerful electric type moves.

"Spheal use powder snow." The chilling gusts swept over the battlefield and made everyone nearby shudder but none more so that shinx which was trying to maintain its ground and not be pushed back in the moderate gale. It was only when a slight layer of frost began to build-up on shinx's front paws that Ben gave his next command though that smug smirk was still plastered on his face.

"Thunderbolt." The attack was as sudden as it was unexpected as a bolt of lightning shot forward from the small Pokémon and scored a direct hit on spheal making the water/ice type flinch in pain as electricity coursed through his body.

"The hell! There's no way that thing learned thunderbolt yet it barely looks old enough to walk!" Jak yelled he refused to believe that these incompetent idiots could have possible come up with a way to teach the low level Pokémon a higher level move like that. He soon got his answer however when Claire laughed off to his side.

"Well that's the difference between us and a common trainer like you isn't it." She said completely ignoring the almost visible rage pouring off of Jak as she said that before an idea sprung into the hot headed trainers mind.

"You used a TM didn't you? Ha superior trainer my ass you can't even be bothered to teach your Pokémon yourselves." Jak got a ridiculous amount of satisfaction from the angry look on the girls face as he hit the nail on the head first time.

"TM makes sense." Michelle pitched in doing her best to side with her brother's friend without making it look like she was. "Shinx can't learn any long range electric attacks like that naturally in the wild and most trainers can't get them to learn it without a TM or a move tutor."

"Not that it matters." Claire hissed flushing a deep red in either anger or embarrassment either one was good in Jak's book as he looked back to the annoying brunet. "Ben has this in the bag that puff ball can't stand up to electric type attacks." As much as Jak hated to admit it she was right spheal was already having a difficult time staying upright.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Jak smirked watching as shinx panted and almost dropped to the ground after the powerful electric attack. "Looks like your boyfriend overestimated his own strength."

"Shinx have special muscles in their front legs that help generate electricity." Michelle informed them smiling to herself as shinx did in fact drop onto the ground. "When that powder snow almost froze his front legs those muscles would have almost stopped working, shinx is working on empty." Whether Ben knew this information or even cared was a moot point as he went straight back into the battle.

"Shinx use another thunderbolt." With a great amount of effort the tired Pokémon pulled itself back up onto its feet and somehow found the strength to summon up another powerful barrage of electricity and spheal could barely do more than watch in terror as the attack headed straight towards it. When the thunder bolt hit this time however spheal cried out in agony before promptly dropping to the floor, the effects of his power snow dropping as he did.

"Told you." Claire said smugly flicking her hair back out of her face as she smiled at the downed and smoking form of spheal. "We may be just starting but Ben and I are going to become true Pokémon champions." The pure arrogance of her voice had Jak clenching his fists so hard he was afraid that they would start bleeding especially when charmander nuzzled his hand gently.

"That's right Tommy and I'll prove just how much big the gap between us is." Ben said folding his arms and smirking at the devastated trainer. "Thunderbolt shinx, kill that thing!"

"What!"

"That's murder!"

"Spheal!"

Nekrews could feel his heart clench in his chest when he saw the bolt of thunder leave shinx heading straight towards his downed Pokémon.

"NO!"


	4. Chapter 3: Doubts

**Chapter 3: Doubts**

"Thunderbolt shinx, kill that thing!"

"What!"

"That's murder!"

"Spheal!"

"Stop!"

Nekrews barely had time to shout as the dangerous bolt of electricity arced towards his already defeated and weakened Pokémon. This couldn't be the end, it just couldn't he and spheal had been best friends for years he loved the adorable ball of fur more than his own family he couldn't just die! Tom didn't register the tears already streaming down his face or the sinister grin on Ben's face as he ran forward hopelessly trying to reach his Pokémon and friend before the bolt of lightning.

"Flamethrower!" An instant after the command had been issued a stream of fire shot across the battlefield passing inches from spheal's downed form and creating an impenetrable barrier of fire for shinx's attack to battle against. The small Pokémon's strength gave out long before the point where it could have broken through that barrier though and it collapsed on the ground exhausted after a few seconds swiftly followed by the end of the flamethrower.

Somewhat dazed and confused by the sudden interruption and rescue of his Pokémon Nekrews turned to look at the source of the attack and flinched when he saw the cold look in Jak's eyes as the trainer glared at Ben who's grin had turned to a scowl as he clenched his hands in anger.

"How dare you interrupt this wasn't."

"DAMN STRAIGHT IM INTERUPTING!" Jak cut the spoilt rich kid off yelling as he barely restrained himself from running over and physically tearing Ben limb from limb his charmander of the same mind as it growled by his side flickers of fire coming from his nose as he breathed and his tail flame taking on a hint of blue. Charmander had obviously been the source of the fire attack as professor Rowan and Michelle still looked like they were getting over their shock at the whole situation. "And I'm going to keep interrupting you bastard! Charmander flamethrower!" The little lizard responded without hesitation shooting a column of fire straight towards the shinx in the middle of the field only to be blocked almost identically to a moment before by a stream of water.

"I don't think so." Claire said smugly flicking her hair out behind her with a piplup stood by her feet and equally smug look on the small penguins face. "You want to battle you can battle me handsome." Feeling not in the least bit complimented at the compliment Jak growled almost identically to his partner feeling his anger bubble over the point where he cared.

"Fine." Jak ground out ignoring the looks on Rowan, Tom and Michelle's faces as he and Claire took the field to replace Ben and Nekrews. Nekrews was broken out of his shock when they started moving and quickly grabbed spheal and ran off the battle field and to his sister who quickly ushered him inside to help the little Pokémon start recovering right away. Ben however just recalled his Pokémon seemingly satisfied with the outcome despite spheal still being alive which only made Jak even angrier at the snob. Professor Rowan stood to the side of the field debating whether or not he should interfere until that decision was made for him.

"Don't you dare butt into this old man." Jak growled giving him a pointed glare that made the professor back down immediately to say Jak was angry was an understatement at this point someone had just tried to kill a Pokémon in cold blood in front of him and this bitch was keeping him from extracting his pound of flesh from him. "And you better be ready after I'm done with her." Jak said pointing at Ben who just scoffed.

"Whatever like that thing can even stand up to piplup let alone any of my Pokémon." Ben said somehow keeping his arrogance despite having two of his Pokémon already beaten by a seemingly pathetic Pokémon like spheal, thinking about the little fur ball kicked Jak's rage into overdrive and he swore to teach both these amateurs a lesson while Tom made sure his friend recovered.

"We'll see. Charmander slash!" Not prepared for the suddenness of the attack nor the speed of Jak's charmander Claire took a second too long to react to the start of the battle calling out a command too late.

"Bubble." Piplup just as shocked as her trainer didn't get the chance to attack before charmander was on her slashing her viciously with a swipe of his claws and knocking the water type back with the force of his attack and making her cry out in pain as a vibrant red line clearly marked where that attack had hit. "Beat it back with a water gun."

"Too slow flamethrower!" Cutting her off mid command Jak smirked as charmander let loose a barrage of fire from almost point blank unfazed by the fact that piplup was a water type. The attack had a devastating effect as it clearly singed the water type's fur and put her in extreme pain. "Now flow up with slash." Reacting instantly like he knew that was coming charmander shot forward but this time Claire was ready.

"Bubble." The smirk on her face quickly vanished however when the fire type Pokémon barely even slowed down as the bubbles collided with him determined to finish the battle. With a great cry charmander's claws glowed brightly and smashed down onto the defenceless piplup cleanly knocking the younger Pokémon out. "What was that?!" Claire cried out indignantly almost like she thought Jak had cheated or something ridiculous.

"That was metal claw." Jak said trying desperately to keep his astonishment from his face. He had been working with charmander for weeks before they moved to try and get that move down and now that he had it he could barely resist the urge to run out and congratulate him but even his pride couldn't override his wrath at the minute. Keeping his gaze as stone cold as possible Jak smirked when charmander walked back over to their side of the battlefield a slight twitch of his claws showing that he was secretly just as excited as Jak was but kept It under wraps like his trainer. "I hope you do have another Pokémon and you weren't just counting on a type advantage to win this for you."

Claire looked close to stomping her foot in a childlike tantrum before returning piplup to her pokeball and pulling a second from her belt grinding her teeth as she did.

"That lizard can't beat all my Pokémon you dirty commoner." She spat throwing her pokeball up in the air. Jak felt his anger cool down significantly at how mad he was making Claire and decided to keep taunting her, if all her Pokémon were as fresh as piplup then this was an easy win for him. Charmander was at least a clear year older than any Pokémon that she could muster up and he had way more experience battling than she did, yep easy win.

"What happened to handsome?" Jak laughed eyeing the starly that just materialised out of the pokeball it was defiantly still just a youngling but Jak wouldn't put it past Claire to have beefed it up especially if she was anything like Ben. "Flamethrower." The fire attack was easily avoided even without the order to dodge from Claire and Jak frowned, he had no doubt that charmander was stronger but if Claire was smart and did have a stronger move up her sleeve she could win this.

"Ha you and your lizard and done for now, you can't match my starly's speed." Claire boasted, and Jak couldn't help but shudder at how strong her Pokémon would be if she put the same level of commitment into training her Pokémon that she didn't being a bitch. "Now starly aerial ace." Feeling a slight sense of satisfaction at how he called her using TMs to teach starly new moves Jak sighed, this would be close.

"Metal claw get ready." Jak called smiling as charmander's claws glowed and watched as starly shot towards the fire type at a remarkable speed almost too fast for Jak to track but he focused and yelled out just in time. "Now!" Charmander lashed out in front of itself with metal claw and struck starly with a clean hit in its chest, the force of the aerial ace couldn't just be stopped however and charmander skidded back a few feet digging grooves into the dirt before knocking starly away from him. Starly struck the ground hard and didn't look like it was getting back up any time soon. "Next."

Whether it was the way that he casually fold his arms or mocking smirk on his face it didn't matter Claire wordlessly screamed at him and pulled out another pokeball but was shocked when Ben appeared and grabbed her hand giving Jak a serious look for a moment.

"Come on this isn't getting us anywhere." Ben said just loud enough for Claire to hear as he kept his eyes firmly set on the trainer that had ruined his day. When Claire began to protest he just glared at her and scoffed. "That guy just tore through two of your Pokémon without a sweat and his charmander looks ready to go another ten rounds and he has more experience than we do lets go." Looking from Ben to Jak, Claire huffed and returned her starly.

"Next time things will be different."

"We'll be waiting." Jak said his statement supported by charmander who huffed some fire out of his nose. Watching the two walk away clearly defeated was possible one of the most satisfying things Jak had ever seen in his entire and he hoped that it wasn't the last time he saw it either.

"Those two I should report them and have officer jenny strip them of their Pokémon for what they just tried." Jak had almost forgotten that professor Rowan was there as the older man had been so quiet. "But you handled yourself very well there young man." Shrugging Jak made a casual sound before walking towards the lab to see if spheal and turtwig were okay, also to see how Nekrews was taking his first admittedly devastating loss.

"Where are Nekrews and his sister?" Jak asked once they were back inside the lab the building was quite big and they could have been anywhere but without a word Rowan starting walking in the direction that Jak assumed they were in. Not a minute later he came into an odd looking room with some complicated looking machinery littered around everywhere and saw Nekrews sat down with turtwig in his lap looking at spheal. The water/ice type was floating in a tank with what looked like ice water, Michelle was sat by her brother and looked up when they walked in. "So those guys were unpleasant." Jak announced stretching his back out wincing as his spine popped back into place.

"That's the understatement of the century." Michelle scoffed as she walked up to charmander to check him over humming to herself as she did.

"They were the upper class in Twinleaf." Nekrews said making it perfectly clear what he thought about them as he stroked turtwig's back barely taking his eyes off of spheal to look at Jak then charmander. "You don't look any worse for wear." He commented and was that… jealousy in his voice, resentment maybe?

"I told you on the way here I've battled before and charmander here is older than those babies that they caught." Jak said trying not to just break out and yell at Nekrews for being an idiot, if he was with any of his friends from pallet he would be empting his lungs at him and if Scott had done something that stupid he would have punched him. Sighing heavily Jak looked at spheal one more time before shaking his head. "Hey old man can I grab some of your pokeballs?" Not really waiting for an answer Jak pulled a belt of six down from a shelf and walked out of the lab he needed to get away from Tom.

He made a mistake out of anger and Jak had no right to stand there and judge him for it or to scold him for it either. Nekrews wasn't a child and he wasn't even that good a friend yet. Sighing to himself Jak wandered off into the heavy woods around the lab looking for something to train against with charmander at his side.

"What did I do to annoy him?" Nekrews asked after Jak had left even though he already had a good idea, Jak had looked like he was about to go berserk after he saved spheal and the trainer had tried to warn him before the battle even started but he just ignored him completely. Ignoring the question as neither of them had an answer Michelle and Professor Rowan went over to check on spheal's progress. Reminded of how much pain that he must have put spheal in made him look down to the turtwig in his lap, the little Pokémon looked back up at him and tilted it head cutely after a moment. "Sorry that I got you hurt little guy, we barely even know each other and I forced you into a battle like that."

Thankfully turtwig just barked a few happy 'turts' before propping his front legs on Nekrews's chest to lick his trainers face. Glad that his new Pokémon didn't hold a grudge against him for their less than perfect first battle Tom went back to stroking him while watching spheal's tank. Michelle had told him that there was no permanent damage and that spheal would fully recover swiftly, Pokémon had amazing regenerative abilities.

"You just going to sit there all day?" Speak of the devil Michelle walked back over and practically dragged her little brother up and out of the room with professor Rowan in tow looking sympathetic as the elder Nekrews placed her brother down in the kitchen and declared that it was lunch time.

"Your sister is scary when she gets like this." Rowan admitted sitting down across from Tom as his sister quickly prepared something for them to eat. "Your friend is a good battler, he and his charmander seemed to be quite in sync." The man commented getting up to pour himself some coffee. "Something to drink?"

"No thanks." Nekrews said looking down at his turtwig, he wished that he had been able to see Jak beat those bastards off of their supposed throne of perfection, he had never actually seen them not get something their way before and it would have been very satisfying to watch. It didn't take very long for Michelle to whip up some sandwiches for them even bringing over a bowl of Pokémon food for turtwig as well.

The lunch went by in relative silence as neither Michelle or Rowan really knew what to say and Nekrews just wanted to eat so that he could go back to spheal, he wouldn't feel better until the little fluff ball was up and rolling around again. As he ate though he started thinking about the battle and what he had felt like, he refused to believe that every battle would be like that not every trainer would be out for spheal's blood the way Ben and Claire seemed to be but he couldn't help thinking that his Pokémon were bound to get hurt at some point of another, was he really strong enough to put them through that. Looking down to turtwig happily munching on his food Tom remembered that it had hurt to see the grass type get hurt so easily as well even if he had only just received him.

Was he really prepared to go ahead and become a trainer like Jak? This was the reason why he never wanted to become one in the first place he didn't want to hurt his Pokémon or anyone else's but… Looking down at turtwig again Nekrews smiled to himself the little Pokémon was just as cute as spheal in some ways and despite the battle he still trusted Tom, maybe just maybe the battle were worth it.

Their lunch was over quickly with professor Rowan saying that he had a lot of work to be getting on with while Michelle took her brother back to the recovery room.

"Spheal will be alright little brother, okay. Don't worry." Giving him a tight hug Michelle left the room as well saying that she had to take care of some of the Pokémon on the lab grounds before the end of the day. "Don't touch anything." She called over her shoulder as she was leaving smirking as he mumbled something in return.

"You'll be alright buddy." Nekrews whispered more for himself than anything as he watched his best friend float in the icy water he smiled when the fluff ball started wiggling in his sleep a little bit.

"Flamethrower!" A burst of fire stuck the beedrill square in the chest and knocked it down unfortunately though the bug type was quickly replaced by three more. "Trust me to find the only place in all of Sinnoh that actually has a colony of cacoona and beedrill and actually piss them off." Jak yelled grabbing charmander and his newly caught shinx who must seriously be regretting his choice of trainer right now and running in the direction that he knew the lab to be, hopefully they wouldn't follow him too far. He was right….in a fashion.

It took another ten minutes of nonstop running before the beedrill stopped following them at which point Jak was leaning over panting from carrying both of his Pokémon all this way.

"You two are heavy." When he said that charmander helpfully latched his jaw onto Jak's hand making the trainer cry out in pain a little as the teeth pricked his skin before the fire type pointed at the new pokeballs on his belt. "Oh yeah I guess I could have put you guys back in there." Jak chuckled sitting down against a tree to catch his breath. Looking over his Pokémon he realised that they were both just as tired as he was, charmander was doing an admirable job of hiding it but Jak could tell that the little reptile was exhausted. Shinx was obviously trying to imitate charmander and act like he wasn't tired as well but the flash Pokémon wasn't doing a very good job as he was laid on the ground panting like Jak.

"I'm running you a little ragged aren't I?" Jak asked getting shinx's attention, the little Pokémon stood up carefully and padded his way over to Jak before promptly collapsing in his lap, he was defiantly not used to battling wild Pokémon and beedrill for hours on end. "I swear I'm not always like this, just on my bad days." Giving something that could have been an affirmative shinx yawned and looked like he was about to fall asleep in his lap before Jak picked him up and started walking again.

Looking up in the sky he could tell it was getting late as the light was fading and wondered how Nekrews and spheal were, from the looks on their faces when he and professor Rowan had walked in spheal was fine or at least he hoped spheal was going to be fine he hated the idea that the Pokémon could die because he didn't step in to stop the battle earlier. It should never have happened in the first place trainers like Ben who would deliberately try and murder Pokémon should be locked up and have the key thrown away.

Sighing Jak wondered if he should go back to the lab but quickly decided against it, he was registered, had the pokedex, and Tom was more of an acquaintance than a friend at the moment anyway, besides he was probably going to head back to twinleaf after what happened. No even in a tourist trap there were a few places for trainers to stop but first a trip to the Pokémon centre was in order.

As he walked back to Sandgem town he wasn't oblivious to all the looks he was getting and to be honest he didn't blame anyone in the slightest he must look like a mess right now he was covered in dirt and his Pokémon looked like they had been given a through beating. When the same kid from earlier in the day caught sight of him though, Jak just grinned and winked at him making the kid smile, wouldn't do to crush his dreams just because he may have taken to training his Pokémon a little too seriously.

"Welcome to the Pokémon centre how may I… oh my." Nurse Joy said once she took in Jak's appearance and that of charmander and shinx. Jak just smiled sheepishly aware of the looks he was getting from some of the other trainers in the centres lobby. "You look like you've had a rough time. Anything serious?" Nurse joy asked with that seemingly permanent smile on her face. Jak just shook his head and called charmander and shinx back to their balls before handing them over to nurse Joy.

"No just fatigue and a few bumps and bruises I hope but better safe than sorry." Jak said stretching out once Joy handed the pokeballs to a chansy, the woman winced sympathetically when Jak's bones seemed to snap back into place. "I was wondering is there any room left in the centre for tonight?" Joy took a second to look through the computer and smiled helpfully.

"Yes we have room for you tonight if you would like to stay?" She asked handing Jak a key when he nodded an affirmative. She called out to him when he was walking away saying that a note would be sent up to him once his Pokémon were ready. Too tired to really take in what she was saying Jak just waved over the top of his head and made his way over to the dorm part of the complex.

"Today has been a hell of a day." Jak mumbled to himself as he staggered his way into his room and face planted the bed barely pausing long enough to drop his pack before he did. He idly wondered if he should go back to Rowan's lab and see how Nekrews and spheal were when tomorrow came around but never reached a decision before he fell into sleeps welcome embrace.

"So this is where you've been." Michelle said startling Professor Rowan from his thoughts as she entered the most secure room in the Lab instinctively checking the shelves to make sure that nothing was missing as she walked over to the older man. "You're not trying to get out of doing your share of the chores are you?" She asked frown clear on her face as Rowan chuckled nervously.

"No, no I would never." Sweating slightly when Michelle only raised an eyebrow at him Rowan coughed and looked pointedly at the shelf in front of him. "I was wondering if we should perhaps give your brother and that other trainer one each to look over." He said checking the items in the room again. Michelle walked over to look at the ones he had chosen and nodded thoughtfully.

"They would both be good matches I think but Jak already left he might not even be in Sandgem anymore and my brother may no longer want to be a trainer." She admitted a little sadly, she had truly been hoping that he little brother was going to travel Sinnoh like she had but it looked like it wasn't going to happen anymore.

"You think that defeat has shaken his will?" Rowan asked wondering if his assistant really thought so little of her sibling.

"He never wanted to be a trainer to begin with." She told him shaking her head when she asked the last time she had visited, remembering how adamant he was back then. "I think he's only here because of Jak to begin with and now he's gone and spheal is hurt. No I doubt he'll keep on going." Finding himself nodding in agreement Rowan looked around the room.

"Beaten before he had even started a pity." He sighed wondering what they were going to do with all of these. "It seems our plan isn't exactly going as we planned it is it?" He chuckled wondering if Jak would be coming back to the lab or not, it seemed to him that the boy was very loyal but he couldn't quite put his finger on whether his loyalty extended to the younger Nekrews. "I guess we will find out tomorrow what they plan to do." He said yawning as he walked back along the halls of his lab.

"I'll give Tom the guess room for tonight then professor we can talk about those tomorrow, Jak may have stopped by the Pokémon centre before leaving. I'll ring Nurse Joy and see if she's seen him." Michelle said getting a nod out of her superior.

"Very well."

It was early the next morning when Jak heard a scratching sound at his door followed swiftly by an enthusiastic char that instantly had him sitting upright and alert. Taking in his surroundings it took Jak a few seconds to remember that he was at the Pokémon centre and only a moment longer to notice the smell and realise that he had slept in his dirty clothes from the day before, great.

Ambling over to the door Jak opening it just in time to see Nurse Joy calmly brandish a particularly long needle at charmander who had been readying a flamethrower to use against the door. The reptile immediately made good use of the now open door and escaped into the room away from the Nurse who smiled politely at Jak. Shinx followed in a less paniced manner most likely not knowing what the needle was for and didn't understand charmander's fear.

Looking over his rather haphazard appearance Joy gave Jak a disapproving look that had the boy blushing with embarrassment before she handed him his pokeballs back for charmander and shinx.

"You were right neither were seriously injured and were back in top condition after a good night's rest." She informed him getting right to the heart of the matter before handing him a form that needed filling. "However your shinx is quite clearly wild and will require his inoculations, I obviously need your approval for these." Wondering if it was worth handing his fresh and blissfully ignorant Pokémon over to the nurse and her injections Jak took the forms, slowly looking them over as he did it was only the one injection apparently. An 'immune booster' according to the sheet, shrugging Jak took the pen from Joy and signed the sheet after she said that she would fill in the rest.

"Charmander was quite eager to come and see you the moment that he woke up so neither of them have been properly washed yet, there are kits available for purchase in the lobby if you need them." She said smiling at him before saying "You also may wish to bathe." Happily excusing herself when Jak's face flashed a tomato red the nurse walked back down the corridor. He snapped out of his shock however when he heard something that sounded suspiciously like snickering coming from inside his room and looked back to see charmander grinning and talking to shinx.

"You." Jak growled closing his door and advancing on the charmander who had the common sense to fear for his life at the tone of his trainer's voice. "Are coming with me." Jak declared picking both the miniature Pokémon up and carrying them into the on suite bathroom kicking his pack in along with them. Jak spent the next hour battling with both the fire and electric types trying to get them clean before he could even consider having a shower himself.

He luckily had a general grooming kit that encompassed all Pokémon types, it was nowhere near as good as the individual specific ones that could be bought but it was enough to get the job done for both of them. Jak happily released them back into his room once he was done. He had to almost pin charmander down just to run a wet cloth over him. Jak got that fire types didn't like water and by extension didn't agree with bathes or washes in general but he knew for a fact that a damp cloth didn't do him any harm and couldn't understand why the little guy put up so much of a fight when he always lost in the end, Jak didn't know what he was going to do when he evolved, he may just have to catch a water type and call washing him 'training'.

Shinx luckily wasn't as bad, the little electric type didn't want a bath and kept jumping out of the shower ever few moments when Jak tried rinsing him down, the end result was water everywhere but a clean shinx. The little guy loved the brush down that he got after it was done though and left happy which was more than Jak was.

When it finally came time for his own shower though he felt just as stubborn about it as both his Pokémon had been and opted for a good long bath instead. The road between Sandgem and the next town over was through a more wooded area and could take a couple of days to get through on foot so he didn't see the problem with enjoying a hot bath now while he could.

"Guess I should get used to a little dirt, life as a trainer isn't exactly a luxury." Jak mumbled happily soaking in the bath for a while, letting his body relax for a while. He was interrupted from his thoughts when charmander and shinx both padded into the bathroom and started nosing at his bag. They were obviously looking for something but Jak had no idea what until charmander pulled out a small green box and came over to Jak silently pleading with his eyes. "You expect me to give you a treat after the trouble you both put me through?" Jak asked smirking when the fire type looked at the floor. Rolling his eyes at the little guy's antics Jak popped the box open and held it out for them both. Inside were some small bright red cubes that Jak knew tasted like cinnamon charmander happily took one before greedily shoving it in his mouth to suck on, shinx stared at the box for a few moments watching his comrades reactions before hesitantly taking one as well. Jak couldn't help but smile as the electric types expression seemed to light up at the taste and held out another cube for each of them.

"Go on then I guess you both earned it after what I put you through yesterday." Jak laughed watching charmander take his cube in his little hands and walk off while shinx looked at his second cube and tried to copy the action but failed miserably when he tried to walk on just his back paws. Taking pity on him Jak took the second cube and plonked it on his head. "There you go."

Deciding that it was time to make a move Jak was washed and ready in another ten minutes wearing a spare pair of cloths, he thought he might as well wash his other ones seeing as he was in a centre. He left shinx to nurse Joys care much to his newest Pokémon's displeasure and went around Sandgem, more specifically he went straight for the pokemart to look for supplies that he could take with him.

With a basket in hand he went over what he would need to take with him if he was going to survive in the forests, he could always forage and fish if there were berries or a river nearby but food was a top priority. Looking over the various shelves Jak came across a very high tech looking box that was quite expensive.

"Ah I see you've found our latest gadget." Jak was surprised to find a sales clerk next to him looking at the small box that he was. "You see they've been trying to repurpose the pokeball design for years but have never quite been able to do it." The clerk, an older man with greying hair said looking at the box with something a kin to pride.

"So… what is it?" Jak asked twisting and turning the thing in his hands it seemed like a paper weight if anything the blasted thing was heavy and more importantly empty.

"Oh of course how silly of me, I think we have one on display ah!" Walking over to the window the clerk pulled an identical box plus a small flat plate that looked like an old music cassette from the display and held them out. "Okay so for years trainer have had the problem of carrying enough food around for all their Pokémon, their individual balls means that their Pokémon don't have to eat as regularly but they still have to eat and it can sometimes be weeks between towns for them to restock." Nodding his head Jak knew all this he had just been thinking about it himself.

"This eliminates the need to carry around bags of food for your Pokémon." The clerk demonstrated by inserting the cassette into the side of the box and a button press later the box was full to the brim with pokeblock. "Each cassette can carry anywhere from one to five kilograms of pokeblock for your Pokémon." Honestly impressed with this particular piece of tech Jak couldn't grab one fast enough along with a handful of food cassettes and place them in his basket, it may be heavy but if it meant that he didn't have to carry bags of food around for his Pokémon then he wasn't complaining in the least.

Even with the 'blockbox' as it was called along with a handful of cassettes Jak found he ended up buying an awful lot at the pokemart. He could fill a separate bag with the potions and status effect heals that he bought along with a separate first aid kit for himself and his Pokémon if he ever needed them. He was just glad that he didn't have to go clothes shopping any time soon what he brought with him would be good enough for a while yet.

"Guess we should go and grab shinx then." Jak said looking down at charmander who shuddered at the thought of needles, Jak grinned at that and wondered if he should buy one just to keep his little friend in line for the next time he needed a good wash. "Come on then." He said walking back to the Pokémon centre if he left in the next hour or so he could get a good few miles in before dark.

What Jak was not expecting to see on his return to the Pokémon centre was Michelle chatting with Nurse Joy his shinx sat next to the two women. Jak raised an eyebrow and walked over to the two of them bag in hand wondering what Michelle could want from him. Both women turned to face him when shinx jumped off of the reception table and padded over to him rubbing against his leg as he did.

"Jak I was hoping that you would be back soon." Michelle declared picking his bag up from where it was hidden behind the desk while saying a quick goodbye to Joy. "Come on we need to be quick if you want to leave today." Completely taken off guard Jak just stood in place before Michelle started dragging him out of the centre, it took him a moment to realise that his clothes were still in the centre from earlier but it seemed Michelle had thought of everything when she started talking again.

"I packed everything from your room back into the bag, and collected your laundry from the washers; if there's anything I missed you can grab it later." She declared still partially dragging Jak along as she power walked back up towards the lab.

"Can I ask why you're dragging me off?" Jak said glancing back to see his Pokémon running after him both looking as confused as he was at the moment. When she didn't answer Jak just went along with it, the lab was only a few minutes away after all so it didn't matter either way to him as long as he still left within a reasonable time.

When they did reach the lab Jak was happy to see Nekrews sat at a table in the kitchen area with spheal and turtwig running around after each other well more like spheal rolling and turtwig chasing him.

"So the little guys alright?" Jak said loud enough for everyone to hear him, charmander immediately walked over and looked over spheal chatting away in poketalk before introducing shinx, the electric type was greeted warmly by both despite it being a shinx that almost fried spheal.

"Yeah he was ready to get out of that tank by this morning." Nekrews smiled looking down on the Pokémon that had all started playing with each other. "You caught a shinx then?"

"Yeah came across him yesterday after I left here and felt compelled to catch him." Jak explained shrugging his shoulders and sitting down beside Nekrews when his sister ran out of the room saying something about finding the professor. "I guess after seeing Ben's horrible attitude towards his Pokémon I wanted to spite him and train a stronger shinx than him." Jak laughed rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment he wasn't usually so mean.

"Don't blame you; wish I could have seen the look on his face when you beat him." Tom said frowning before sighing heavily and looking at spheal. "I guess I'm just glad spheal is alright."

"Same here that's all that matters at the end of the day." Nodding his agreement Nekrews and Jak went quite as they watched their Pokémon run around before Jak suddenly asked. "So are you going home?"

Even though he was expecting the question Nekrews didn't know what his answer was, yes there was defiantly a part of him that just wanted to go home but there was another that was compelling him to go forward to not run away because of a bad start but to push through. He was already leaning more towards the idea of carrying on now that spheal was better and was confident that as time went on they would only get stronger and that battles like yesterday would become less and less the further they went.

"I don't think so." Nekrews finally admitted rolling a pokeball that Jak hadn't noticed around in his hands. "I wanted to yesterday, that was my first thought. Run home and protect spheal but now that he's okay even after that battle, I'm more confident that we'll be okay if we keep going."

Jak smiled and was going to say something when Michelle and Rowan came back into the room and set two large heavy looking glass cylinders down on the table. The contents made Jak and Nekrews's eyes go wide.

"These boys are your starting gifts." The professor declared as if what he was giving the two teenagers was completely normal.

"Those are…"

"Eggs yes."


End file.
